Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 224, 12 November 1880, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1880.

AnE ths citizens of Nelson prepared to allow any Dick, Tom, or Harry who may be nominated for a joke or otherwise to be tumbled into the Mayor's chair, aud to remain its occupant for the next twelve months? Afc presem it looks very like it, for no one appears to be taking the slightest interest in the matter although nominations will have to be sent in by Tuesday next. It really is time that some of the leading residents in the place bestirred themselves, and at least took care that the office should not go begging, otherwise they may when too late discover that in allowing such apathy to prevail they have committed a grave error that cannot easily be remedied. The Horticultural Society's spring show will be held in the Provincial Hall on Monday next, and, from all we cau learn, it promises to be an unusual success. Owing to its being a little earlier than the customary date, the display of roses will probably be a grand one, for the queen of flowers will then he in her prime, and, as the number of exhibitors is on the increase, and the competition growing keener every year, a magnificent collection may be looked for. Pot plants, too, will, ifc is said, be exhibited in greater numbers and larger variety than on any previous occasion. It may be as well to remind amateurs that greater encouragement than heretofore will be held oufc to them to show the products of their gardens, as they will not be called upon to compete against professional gardeners except in one or two classes thafc are open to "all comers." The Committee are desirous of making the centre table as attractive as possible, and they invite ladies to assist them in doing so to the best of their power by sending stands of flowers and hand bouquets. The Hall will be open in tbe evening, wheu an orchestra as sisted by Mr Oakey have kindly consented to play at intervals. Ip there is any pleasure to be derived from idleness the prisoners afc present in Nelson gaol have befo-e them the prospect of an exceedingly pleasant time dating from the end of this week, when they will finish the job at which they were afc work for tho Corporation, when the fiat went forth that henceforward those who want the prison labor must be prepared to pay for ifc. Bufc the Council object to paying for labor of this kind, and so they will not employ tho gang, and. as the prison grounds are so limited that ifc is a matter of impossibility to find work for the convicts upon tbem, it follows that unless some other means are devised of providing employment, the inmates of the gaol will haye to spend an idle existence, and as idleness invariably leads to mischief — so at least says Dr Watts —we shall probably ere long hear of some disturbances in what has hitherto been on the whole a quiet and orderly institution. The proposal of the Government that prison labor should be paid for by those benefitting hy it is nofc altogether an unfair one, but the price they ask is simply ridiculous. To begin with, enforced labor is certainly not worth anything like as much as free labor, and in addition to this ifc must be taken into consideration that many of those who are included in the prison gangs never did a day's work in their lives — if they had uot heen afraid of work probably they would not he found in so degraded a position — and ifc is not fco be expected of them that they should suddenly develop into brawny industrious pick and shovel men, for whose day's work four or five shillings would be a fair equivalent. The Government are too grasping in this matter, and, if the principle they propose is to be acted upon, it will have to be on reduced and move reasonable terms.

Some very excelleufc samples of leather prepared by the new tanning process have been turned out lately by Mr Tatton. The representative of an Auckland firm, wbo was on a visit to Nelson the other day, was so pleased wilh the specimens which were shown to him tbat it is by no means improbable that some large orders may reach here from the North. Mr Pitt will address his constituents at the Piovincial Hall this evening. Wn arc glad to hear that Mr Hart is recovering from the nasty accident he met with on^ Tuesday night, and will probably be able to give another entertainment on Monday evening. * The return match between the Civil Service and Nelson C. C. will take place tomorrow afternoon in the Botanical Reserve, commencing at two o'clock. The following will constitute the respective teams:— Civil Service— Adams, Carkeek, A. Greenfield, F. Greenfield, Halliday, Holmes, Kuyvett, Naylor, Pollock, Ritike. , and Saxon. N.C.C.— Askew, Balmain, E. Boddington, H. Boddington, Campbell, Clouston, Firth, Foote, l.awry, Sharp. A correspondent of the Fast who appears fo have beeu thoroughly entranced by Mr Proctor's grand lectures on astronomy writes as follows to that journal:—" The advent of Mr Proctor in these colonies, and tho grand descriptions he gives of the sublimr st part of all the circle of the sciences, will, I venture to believe, be productive of lasting benefit to the people who bave left the homes of their nativity, and enst their lot in these lands lighted by the " strange stars " of this hemisphere. These lectures are —if anything is— calculated to elevate aud expand the mind of every auditor— to give all of them, old and young alike, a permanent stimulus to soar above the more common place and sordid things of daily life, and lead them to higher and nobler thoughts. In almost every household will tbe splendour of the lecturer's subject be discussed with a subdued euthusiasm, none the less keen because it is subdued by reason of the incomparable magnificence of those realms into which wondrous glimpses were afforded, and regarding which some new thought must havo been carried away by every hearer. The words—" These arc Tby handiworks " will henceforward haye a grander significance to the mind of everyone who was in tho theatre ; and will, I do not doubt, implant in the garden of popular thought seed which will bear good fruit, both now and hereafter. The method of the lecturer, the clean uninterrupted flow of his eloquent periods, his calm reasoning, his reverence inthe presence of an ennobling topic, were to mymind perfect. I have heard hundreds of lecturers, but none has so completely held at will the entire body of his audience, which was at once charmed by the sublimity of the story, antl the power and earnestness of its narrator." The longest passenger train that has ever travelled ou the Wellington live was that which arrived from the Lower Hutt last Tuesday evening. It comprised no lese than thirty-seven carriages, all crammed witb passengers, numberiug not less than 1000. A Wanganui telegram to tho Post last night says: — A report has reached this towu that Moffatt, who lately served a term of imprisonment for gunpowder- making, has been shot in the Tuhua country. Moffatt was warned nofc to return, as tbe natives would not allow white men in their country. He would not leave, and be was then shot. Tuhua is at tbe head of the river, and bas never yet been prospected by white meu, the natives always being averse to their presence. At an ordination held on the 17th September, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, io ti.e Parish Church of Farnham, the Rev. Alfred Owen Williams, of Bishopdale Theological College, Nelson, New Zealand, was ordained for the Bishop of Nelson, and the Revs C. Mounfcford aud C. S. Thompson with a special view to their officiating iv the colonies. Mr G. F. Grace, the famous cricketer, one of the three brothers Grace, died at Basingstoke on 22nd September, aged 29. At the match with the Australians at the Oval a fortnight before, he caught a cold on the lungs, it is believed, through sleeping in a damp bed, but in the same week he was able to play at Stroud, and then went to Basingstoke, where he got worse. A telegram was received by his family, but before Dr Grace could start another telegram came stating that he was dead. Mr Fred Grace was the youngest of the " three Grnccs,'' and the favorite son of Mrs Grace, who is overwhelmed with grief afc the sad news. Mr Fred Grace was most popular in his own county, where his manly bearing and frank manner won him the esteem of hosts of friends. It is fortunate for New Zealand (says the European Mail) tbat the Grey Government was superseded in time to prevent a financial crash, if nofc financial ruin. The news that had the slightest bitch or delay occurred in floating the five million loan the colony must have suspended payment withiu a week, created, as might have been expected, no little alarm heve. * Assistance, however, seems to have, come jusfc in the nick of time, and it is perhaps, fortunate that the true state of the case was not known on this side until after the crisis was tided over, because, if it bad been, the " bears" would have made the most of it. New Zealand stock would have been hunted to death, and tlie loan would bave been a failure. The democratic followers of a rampant statesman may therefore gather from this episode how dangerous it is to play fast and loose with the first principles of government, and, by seeking to achieve a little passing popularity, to run the risk of ruining irretrievably the credit of a colony.